1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a rotation sensor equipped bearing assembly of a kind incorporated in, for example, a copying machine, a printer or any other business machines and equipments.
2. Description of Related Art
As a rotation sensor equipped bearing assembly having a rotation detecting function, a bearing assembly of a structure, in which an encoder is provided in an inner ring of a rolling bearing assembly, a sensor housing is provided in an outer ring serving as a stationary member, and the rotation of the encoder is detected by a sensor supported by the sensor housing, has been known. (In this respect, see, for example, the patent document 1 listed below.) Also, as a rotation sensor equipped bearing assembly, a bearing assembly of a structure, in which a rotation sensor is constituted by an encoder and a sensor unit and a bearing assembly is provided in an inner peripheral portion of a sensor housing having the sensor unit installed therein, has been known. (In this respect, see, for example, the patent document 2 listed below.)
Also, a bearing assembly of a structure, in which the rotation of a rotary shaft is detected by means of an optical rotary encoder including a casing to accommodate therein a code wheel (encoder) and a light transmissive type photo-sensor, has also been known. (In this respect, see, for example, the patent documents 3 to 5 listed below.) Yet, a bearing assembly of a structure, in which an encoder is provided in an inner ring serving as a rotatable member of the rolling bearing assembly and a sensor housing is provided in an outer ring serving as a stationary member and the rotation of the encoder is detected by means of an optical sensor supported in the sensor housing, has been known. (In this respect, see, for example, the patent documents 6 and 7 listed below.)